Just wondering if anyone has some idea about this. The oil is always low on my 68 Fury 318. It seems to need a quart every couple hundred miles. It is not leaking excessively and it may be burning some, but certainly not billows of blue smoke. Where could all this oil be going?

 

s -

Think you know as well as we do, if it ain't on the floor, it's coming out the exhaust.

The not leaking "excessively" is the scary part, since it might be leaking while you're driving and you won't see that.

How does the oil remaining in the crankcase look, smell?

Archer

 

the oil is dark. Not sure how to describe how it smells. Has somewhat of a heavy odor. There is always a very small drip mark under the car when it is parked, but nothing that would account for this much oil being low all the time. I am wondering if it is coming out heavier while driving like you mentioned.

 

s-

just curious -

What grade/weight and type oil are you using?

Archer

 

First thing I would do is look carefully all around the engine. Many of the oil leaks I have found over the years only occur at higher speeds. Such as oil pouring out of valve cover gaskets, leaking on sending units, or fuel pumps. Since most of this oil gets spread out along the road as you drive when parked nothing really shows on the ground.

Secondly there is valve seals. These are not super hard to change but tricky. Ideally it should be done with the engine out of car as the old valve seals tend to plug up the sump in the oilpan preventing the engine from getting proper oil. This is not hard to diagnose though. If the spark plugs are covered in oil chances are the valve seals are shot.

 

my 318 is pushing oil through the rings

 

if you only need a quart every couple hundred miles, you are doing great!

 

It probably need new valve seals